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Trans-Regional Express Plan (mtamaster edition)
The Trans-Regional Express Plan, also known as the T-REX, is a plan introduced in 2018 combining the railroads of New Jersey and New York into one system in order to combat ridership growth in the New York Tri-state area. Consisting of combining systems of New Jersey transit, Metro-North and Long Island Railroad, this project would be one of the most expensive transit projects ever to take place. However as of May 2019 no funding was put into this project. The Trans-Regional Express Plan would be studied further in the 2020-2024 capital plan. Background Ever since 2017, service in New York City has grown to be less reliable, most notably in the Manhattan area. In April 2018, two plans were revealed by new president Andy Byford. One plan focuses on remodeling the entire bus network with the other focusing on rail lines in the Tri-state area. New York City currently transports over 50,000,000 passengers daily between New York and other areas in northern New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. During a study in April 2018, it was revealed that the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region has an opportunity to support sustainable and equitable economic growth for future generations by building on a unique asset —the region’s extensive commuter rail network. This network, if optimized, can boost job and population growth both in the region’s core and in major centers through-out the region that have both the capacity and need for growth. Unfortunately, the commuter rail network in the New York area is aging, and not configured to adequately meet the evolving needs of the region’s residents. Today’s network leaves many parts of the region poorly served or without rail service at all. By 2018, it is shown that the system wasn’t designed to serve today’s travel patterns and has little capacity for future growth. Without a new design, substantial upgrades and governance changes, New York will fall farther behind the metropolitan areas that are investing in fully integrated metro systems, and fail to capitalize on this region’s global economic strengths. This project, part of Regional Plan Association’s Fourth Regional Plan, describes how a strategic set of investments, phased over the next few decades, will combine the Long Island Railroad, Metro-North Railroad, New Jersey Transit, and other nearby systems into a unified system that vastly improves mobility throughout the region. It would address immediate priorities, including creating through service at Penn Station and relieving congestion across the Hudson River, while incrementally expanding the network and creating a modern regional rail system that could serve the tri-state area for a century or more. The resulting system, dubbed Trans-Regional Express (T-REX), would provide frequent, consistent service, directly connect New Jersey, Long Island, the Mid-Hudson and Connecticut, and allow the region’s economy to continue growing. The region must modernize, integrate, and expand its commuter rail network to keep up with a growing region, as well as changing technology and service demands. Unifying the network into a Trans-Regional Express service will require major infrastructure upgrades to integrate and expand its different components. Some actions, like building additional tunnels under the Hudson and creating a more functional Penn Station, are underway in different funded projects. Once completed, further plans to expand the system would need to be approved. As of May 2019, MTA president Andy Byford is renovating the MTA New York City Subway and Bus network under Fast-Forward. Current plans Before the T-REX can begin it's first phase, other projects would need to be completed first. Gateway Project The Gateway Program is the planned phased expansion and renovation of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail line between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City, New York. The proposed project would cost about US$20 billion and would be completed in 2026. Once completed the improvements would double train capacity, from 24 trains per hour to 48 and would allow for additional high-speed rail service. The existing two-track rail line used by both Amtrak (AMTK) and New Jersey Transit (NJT) has reached full capacity. The right-of-way would parallel the one between Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station (NYP) in Midtown Manhattan originally completed around 1910. The project would build new rail bridges in the New Jersey Meadowlands and new tunnels under Bergen Hill (Hudson Palisades) and the Hudson River, convert parts of the James Farley Post Office into a rail station, and add a terminal annex to NYP. Some previously planned improvements already underway have been incorporated into the Gateway program. New construction of a "tunnel box" that would preserve the right-of-way on Manhattan's West Side began in September 2013, using $185 million in Hurricane Sandy recovery and resilience funding. Gateway was unveiled in 2011, one year after Governor Chris Christie's cancellation of the somewhat similar Access to the Region's Core (ARC) project, and was originally projected to cost $14.5 billion and take 14 years to build. In 2015, Amtrak said that damage done to the existing trans-Hudson tunnels by 2012's Hurricane Sandy had made their replacement urgent. Amtrak also reported that environmental and design work was underway, estimated the project's total cost at $20 billion, and said construction would start in 2019 or 2020 and last four to five years. A draft environmental impact statement for the Gateway Program was released in July 2017. Funding for the project had been unclear for several years due to a lack of funding commitments from New Jersey officials and the federal government. As of March 2018, up to $541 million for the project was provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act. East Side Access East Side Access is a public works project under construction by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City. It will bring the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) into a new station built below, and connected to, Grand Central Terminal on the East Side of Manhattan. The new station and tunnels are expected to cost $12 billion and are tentatively scheduled to start service in late 2023. An LIRR connection to the East Side of Manhattan was first proposed in 1963. In 1968, the LIRR line was included in the Program for Action, which called for numerous transit improvements in the New York City area. Budgetary constraints prevented the construction of any part of the connection other than the 63rd Street Tunnel under the East River. Plans for the LIRR connection were revived in the late 1990s, and the project received federal funding in 2006, and construction commenced in 2007. The tunnels on the Manhattan side were dug from 2007 to 2011, and the connecting infrastructure on the Queens side was constructed through 2012. The new terminal will contain eight tracks and four platforms in a two-level station 100 feet (30 m) below street level. It is being built in conjunction with several other expansion projects across the LIRR, including an additional track on the LIRR's Main Line and a new station in Sunnyside. East Side Access has faced controversy for its multiple delays, its extremely high cost, and its bloated scope. Various delays have increased the cost of construction threefold from the original estimate of $3.5 billion, as well as pushed back the original opening date of 2008 by fifteen years. Penn Station Access Penn Station Access is a public works project planned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The goal of the project is to allow Metro-North Railroad commuter trains to access Penn Station on Manhattan's West Side, using existing trackage owned by Amtrak. Metro North trains currently terminate exclusively at Grand Central on Manhattan's East Side. The project would complement the ongoing East Side Access project, and would commence in two separate phases. The first phase, which is in the planning stage, would add four new stations along the Hell Gate Line (part of the Northeast Corridor) in the Bronx and route some New Haven Line trains to Penn Station. The second phase, which is unfunded, would add two more stations along the Empire Connection on Manhattan's West Side, which would be served by the Hudson Line. An agreement for the first phase was reached in early 2019, and New Haven Line trains are tentatively expected to run into Penn Station after East Side Access opens in 2023. Future plans After the Gateway, East Side and Pen station projects become completed between 2023 and 2026, the T-REX will undergo it's first phase. Below is a proposal of the full T-REX plans when completed. Phase One The Crosstown line builds on Amtrak’s Gateway plans to build new rail tunnels under the Hudson River and expand Penn Station. It also builds on the infrastructure needed to achieve the Federal Railroad Administration’s vision for intercity and regional rail service in the Northeast Corridor. RPA’s Fourth Regional Plan proposes those tunnels and tracks be extended to build new tunnels under the East River to provide a new Crosstown service between New Jersey and Long Island. Instead of a terminal, Amtrak’s proposed Penn South would become a through-running station with two tubes extending east to Queens. A new station on 31st Street and Third Avenue would provide suburban commuters access to southeast Midtown. The Crosstown line will address the immediate crisis of declining service across the Hudson while creating a range of new benefits: * It would provide capacity for six to nine more trains per hour from New Jersey than the Gateway project as it is currently planned, and result in a total of 30 to 33 more trains from both New Jersey and Long Island into Penn Station. * New Jersey Transit riders would have direct service to Manhattan’s East Side, and Long Island Rail Road riders would have a second East Side destination, in addition to the Grand Central LIRR station currently under construction. * The additional capacity could allow old rail lines to be reactivated, and large parts of Monmouth, Ocean, and Middlesex counties could gain direct rail access into Manhattan. * New Jersey commuters would be able to go directly to Jamaica to board the JFK AirTrain, and LIRR riders could travel directly to the rail stop for Newark Airport. The additional East River tunnels would provide greater resiliency in case of flooding, terrorism, or other disruptions. * The Crosstown Line would provide direct service from New Jersey to Queens and Long Island employment centers, and it would provide direct service from Long Island, East Bronx and Westchester to New Jersey employment centers. Phase Two/Three Although there will be no initial attempts to build phase 2 and 3 at this time, plans are in place for those two phases. Before 2040, it is expected that the Gateway/Crosstown tunnels will also be at capacity. Planning and building infrastructure of this scale can take decades. Additional rail tunnels from Union City, NJ, to 57th street in Midtown would provide the next trans-Hudson capacity expansion after Crosstown reaches full capacity. There are also plans for a Jersey loop in midtown to for further relief in the area. Planned services It is expected to have the Metro-North, Long Island Railroad, and NJ Transit unified into one system under T-REX. Below is expected rush hour routes when the project is complete: *Croton-Harmon-Port Washington *Poughkeepsie-Grand Central *Wassaic-Grand Central *New Canaan-High Bridge *Danbury-Bay Head *New Haven-State St-Grand Central *Waterbury-Grand Central *Hempstead-Hackettstown *West Hempstead-Gladstone *Hoboken-Gladstone *Hoboken-Hackettstown *Oysters Bay-Hackettstown *Far Rockaway-Atlantic *Long Beach-Atlantic *Port Jefferson-Penn Station *Greenport-Penn Station *Montauk-Penn Station *Spring Valley-Hoboken *Port Jarvis-Penn Station via bergen *Port Jarvis-Hoboken via mainline *Philadelphia-Belmont Park *Philadelphia-Atlantic City The first line, the Philadelphia-Belmont Park Line, would be the first line to operate under the T-REX. The line is expected to operate in a one-year experimental run with 200 new cars built exclusively for the line, with an option for 100 more. 175 of the new cars, TX-1D, will be passenger cars, with TX-1L being 25 new locomotives built. The award date was originally set to summer 2018, but was pushed back in to between 2022-2023 due to unavailable funding at the time. The proposed line, dubbed Philadelphia-Belmont line, will run weekdays, stopping at 30th St, North Philadelphia, Cornwell Heights, Trenton, Princeton Junction, Jersey Av, Rahway, Newark Liberty Airport, Newark Penn Station, Secaucus Junction, NY Penn Station, Woodside, Jamaica, and Belmont Park.